In recent years, the computerization of automobiles has progressed, and technical developments have been made in various aspects from the viewpoints of safety, environment, information, comfort, and so on. From the viewpoint of safety, there is technology for, when a door of the vehicle is to be opened, notifying an external target, in advance, of the fact that the door will be opened, in order to prevent a person or another vehicle from hitting the opened door.
For example, “LAMP FOR WARNING OPENING OF DOOR IN ADVANCE” is disclosed (see JP H6-107069A), according to which a warning lamp that emits light rearward is provided on a rear end surface of a side molding that is provided on a side surface of an automobile, the rear end surface being divided from the side molding by a door, and the warning lamp is turned on in response to a door handle inside the automobile being operated within the range of play of the door handle.
However, the warning lamp according to JP H6-107069A is turned on every time the door handle is operated. Therefore, there is a problem in which the warning lamp is turned on even when the warning lamp does not need to be turned on such as when there are no people or other vehicles around the automobile. There is also a problem in which power is wastefully consumed.
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and aims to provide an alighting notification device that is able to notify of the fact that an occupant will get out of a vehicle, only when necessary.